Shipping and storage crates



Feb. 5, 1957 I Q B. c. COIT, JR Y 2,

SHIPPING AND STORAGE CRATES Filed Aug. 9, 1954 s Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR. BURTON C C017; JG

BY 4 w Feb. 5, 1957 a. c. COIT, JR 2,780,331

SHIPPING AND STORAGE CRATES Filed Aug. 9, 1954 y 5 Sheets-Shea}: 2

i 54 i INVENTOR.

QTTOEAZEX Feb. 5, 1957 B. c. COIT, JR 2,780,331

SHIPPING AND STORAGE CRATES Filed Aug. 9, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVEN 14BURTONC C017", 2.

United States Patent 3 Claims. (Cl. 220,-6)

My invention relates to shipping and storage crates that canconveniently be made of Welded Wire mesh, al-

though certain features of the invention can be used in connectionwith'crate wall-sof other forms and materials.

One object of my invention is to provide a crate that is moreconveniently foldable or collapsible to facilitate shipping and storagethereof, when not in use.

Another object of my invention is to provide a colla sible cratestructure that, while it has a base or bottom of pallet-like form, thewalls can be of great height relative to the length and width of thebase frame and still be .folded to compact position, without the wallsprotruding beyond the relatively rigid base members.

Another object of my invention is to provide a crate mainly of wire meshform, which has a base or underframeof sturdy character, with arelatively small amount of heavy bars or rods.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a crate of thecharacter referred to that has one or more of its sides made ofdrop-panel form to permit of more convenient access to the contents ofthe crate and whose wall-s, nevertheless, are hinged at the corners forfolding to collapsed pantograph form when the crate is empty, withoutthe necessity of disengaging the latches of the drop panels.

A further object of my invention is to provide an improved form oflatching device for releasably holding the drop panels in normalvertical position.

As shown in the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the crate showing somewhatschematically the manner in which the vertical walls are supported bythe base or underframe and the manner in which the bottom wall ismovable toward and from its operative or horizontal position;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the structure of Fig. 3, showingthe arrangement of rods 'or wires for guiding the latching slides;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevational view of the crate of Fig. 1, butwith the underframe and feet omitted;

Figs. 4 and 5 are elevation'al and plan views respectively, of amodification of the latching devices shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view looking at the underside of the base of thecrate, on an enlarged scale, and

Fig. 7 shows the crate of Figs. 1 and 3 in collapsed or foldedcondition.

The crate has two vertical end walls each of which comprises verticalrods 10 welded in crosswise relation to horizontal rods 11. At each endof the crate, a channel bar 12 is welded to the rods 10 and 11. A metalmember 13 of strap-like form is welded to the outer face of each channel12 and extends vertically, with bends 14 that serve as feet. The strapmember 13 is then bent upwardly and downwardly to channel-like contourat 15.

Side plates or cleats 16 are welded to the outer edges of the members 13and 15, to strengthen the same, and gusset plates 17 extend between theU-shaped legs with their inner edges Welded to the plates 16 and theirlower 2,780,381 Patented Feb. 5, 1951 ice 2 edges welded to the feet 14.The upper edges of these gusset plates are welded to the channels 12.

The frame members 12, together with their leg portions, serve somewhatas a pallet in that the crate can be handled by lift-fork trucks, thelegs or feet 14 also being concave on their lower sides for convenienceof stacking crates on one another.

The side walls of the crates have openings for panels 20, parts of thehorizontal and vertical members of the mesh being omitted for thispurpose. These side Walls comprise mainly vertical rods or wires 21welded in crosswise relation to horizontal wires 22 in the lower part ofthe panel and to shorter horizontal wires 23 in the upper part of thewall. Whereas the vertical wires 21 are behind the horizontal wires,stiffening rods 24 and 25 will be welded to the outer sides of thehorizontal wires 22 and 23.

The vertical wires of the side and end walls, at the vertical corners ofthe crate, are connected by helical wires 26 that serve as hingeelements, additional sleeve- "like hinge elements 27 being employed forgreater strength at the upper corners of the crate.

The drop panels 20 comprise mainly vertical rods 28 welded in crosswiserelation to horizontal rods 29, there being additional rods 30 and shortbars 31 welded to the horizontal rods 29. Slide bars 33 that serve aslatch bolts are slidably supported between adjacent horizontal rods 29,they being'retained in position between these horizontal rods by rods 30and 31 that extend across the outer faces of the bars, and the rods 28that extend across the rear faces of the bars 33. When the bolts are inoperative position as in Fig. 3, they extend between adjacent verticalrods 25 and 21 and behind short bars 34 that are welded to the rods 23.

Protuberances 35 that may suitably be of bent wire are welded to theouter faces of the latch bars, and the bars have notches 36 and 37 withwhich keeper rings 38 cooperate to releasably hold the latches in eithertheir operative or inoperative position. As shown in Fig. 3, the keeperwhich is slidable on the bar 31 is in the notch 36, so that the latchbar cannot become accidentally slid back to inoperative position.Similarly, the keeper, when engaged in the notch 37, will hold the latchbar in its retracted or unlatched position.

Loop-like stop members 38 are welded to the outer faces of the panels 20in position to engage the adjacent vertical rods 25 when the panels aremoved to vertical position, these loop members serving as aligningdevices to facilitate accurate positioning of the panels for movement ofthe bars 33 into latched position.

The lower panels 20 are hingedly connected by spiral wires 40 to theadjacent horizontal rod 22 of the side wall, while the upper drop panels20 are hingedly connected by spiral wires 41 to the uppermost wire ofthe next lower panel. It will be seen that since the drop panels are nothinged directly to the end walls of the crate, the crate can becollapsed or folded to the position shown in Fig. 7 without thenecessity of disconnecting the latches. It will be obvious that thecrate can have two or more drop panels as shown in Fig. l, or a singledrop panel, in either or both of 'two opposite vertical walls.

Also, that portion of the side walls that contains the horizontal rods22 welded to the cross rods 21 and hingedly connected to the end wallsat the vertical corners of the crate has a stifiening effect to resistflexing outward of the end walls under internal load pressures,particularly since rods 21 extend the entire height of the side walls.

The crate has a bottom wall 42 comprising layers of rods 43 and 44welded in crossed relation to rods 45. At one end of the bottom wall 42,one of the rods 44 is hingedly connected to a lower rod 46 of the sidewall, by a helical wire 47, the rod 46 being welded to the verticalwires 21 of the side Walls. The longitudinal edges of the bottom wall 42will rest upon the box-like portions 15 of the legs. At its free end,the bottom wall will be supported in its horizontal position by hooks 48 that are welded to the side wall of the crate.

When the bottom wall 42 is folded up snugly in vertical position againstthe side wall to which it is hinged, the crate can be collapsed ingenerally pantograph style to the position shown in Fig. 7 simply bytilting the crate toward a horizontal position. The bottom wall, when inits lowermost position, will serve, of course, to maintain therectangular relationship of the vertical walls when the crate isupright.

A modified form of latch is shown in Figs. 4 and 5. In this case, barshaving loops 50 are welded to the rear sides of vertical rods 51, theloop ends being bent perpendicularly to slidably support a slide bolt52. Outstanding loops 53 are welded to the drop panels 20 in position toreceive the slide bolts 51 when latching the panels in their uprightpositions. A stop lug 54 is welded to each bolt 51 in position toobstruct release movement of the slide bolt when the handle 55 of thelatch bolt is in'its lower position, under the weight of gravity. Whenthe handle 55 is swung to horizontal position, the stud 54 can be passedthrough the adjacent looped end of the member 50 to permit backwardsliding of the bolt.

I claim as my invention:

1. A crate comprising side and end walls pivotally connected at thevertical corners of the crate, a bottom wall for the crate, a footedbase for the saidvwalls, one of the side walls having an upper part inthe form of relatively spaced vertical panel-like portions each hingedlyconnected to its adjacent end wall and extending to the upper edgethereof, and panels in relatively superposed relation bridging thespaces between the'vertieal panel-like portions and hi igedly connectedtogether at their adjacent horizontal edges, the lower edge of thelowermost panel being hingedly connected to the side wall, on ahorizontal axis at a line below the said panellike portions, and thepanels being provided with latch devices near, their upper edges, fordetachable connection to the vertical panel-like portions.

2. A crate as recited. in claims 1, wherein the bottom wall is disposedbetween the vertical walls and is hingedly connected at one edge to thelower edge of one of the vertical walls and attits other end issupported on ledgelike members, whereby it is foldable upwardly againstsaid one vertical wall.

3. A crate as recited in claim 1, wherein the footed base comprises twohorizontal bars respectively secured to the lower edges of two oppositevertical walls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS529,230 Zimmerman Nov. 13, 1894 844,955 Morgan Feb. 19, 1907 1,274,800Sketteno Aug. 6, 1918 1,555,177 Barker Sept. 29, 1925 1,648,025 MollayNov. 8, 1927 1,849,472 Benedict Mar. 15, 1932 2,470,223 Powels May 17,1949 2,660,328 Averill Nov. 24, 1953 2,667,319 Coit Jan. 26, 19-54FOREIGN PATENTS 52,474 Germany June 25, 1890

